A few days ago my hand held blender broke down so since then I couldn't make any blended vegetable soup that we love so much. Red lentil soup is definitely our favorite and I always make it perfectly pureed until smooth and with a little drizzle of lemon juice. So until I buy a new blender, I decided to explore new posibilities and try to go deeper into my Lithuanian side and make red lentil soup with other vegetables that is not pureed at all with some bigger chunks of potatoes and carrots. It was well received by my daughter and my husbands, so I believe it will be cooked again. If you make it a bit thicker, the soup could make a full meal.

Red lentil soup

(serves 4-6)

What you need:

1 onion

3 cloves of garlic

1 large carrot

1 red pepper

2 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp tomato paste

1 medium potato

2/3 cup red lentils

1/2 tsp ground cumin

1/2 tsp dried oregano

1/3 tsp dried mint

salt and black pepper

2l chicken or vegetable stock

for serving:

1 tbsp butter

2 tbsp olive oil

1/2 tsp hot red pepper flakes

1/3 tsp dried mint

What you have to do:

Peel and finely chop onion, garlic and carrot. Peel and cut potato in cubes. Deseed red pepper and cut in small cubes.

In a pot preheat olive oil and add onion, garlic and carrot. Stir and fry for 3 minutes. Then add potatoes and red pepper, season with salt. Fry for 2 minutes. Add tomato paste, red lentils, cumin, black pepper, dried oregano and mint. Stir and pour in chicken stock. Cook for 20 minutes until lentils are soft and vegetables are cooked through. Stir a few times while cooking. Remove from the heat.

In a small saucepan melt butter, add olive oil, heat it and pour in red pepper flakes, dried mint. Stir the oil and remove from heat.